CH 4

「The spear-thrower that master made is pretty good. They can easily exterminate herbivorous wolves.」

「……n…..o…..t…..」

「Ah, the darts he gave Vongo-chan didn’t work so well. They just kept running away when they got hit.」

「……use…..less…….」

「Don’t worry, he won’t mind even if you fail to hunt. Master is Sawadi-sama the charitable.」

Recently, our party, Vongo-chan and I, moved up a hunting ground.

As expected, it’s an overkill to ask the two of us to hunt knife tanukis and assault cocks.

Knife tanuki and assault cocks are food resources but wolves are both vermin and food.

When we changed our hunting grounds, we made more money than before.

Our allowance has increased to two copper coins a day and we are very happy.

After hunting, we get hungry so Vongo-chan and I will go out to eat.

These days, I leave a little bit of money aside to go buy meat skewers and fried potatoes on my day off.

It’s a far cry from the days when I only ate leftovers in the corner of the field and I was not even allowed in my parent’s house.

Master even built a hut for us.

Now I can sleep even when it’s raining.

The other day, he made us some equipment himself to use in our new hunting grounds.

I don’t know what it is but he calls it a spear-thrower but it has a short and heavy hand-thrown arrow. I’m glad he’s so generous.

He was saying “Fighting out of range” or something.

Well, it’s true that using the spear thrower, it’s easy to end a fight with a single blow from a distance.

「…….the…..re…..」

「Aiyooo〜」

It looks like my next prey has arrived.

I grabbed a spear from the spear-thrower and swung it.

Vongo-chan threw darts to restrain the wolf’s movement.

Boom! The metal spear twisted and flew, piercing the wolf through the shoulder. It fell and twitched on the ground.

「….that’s….it….」

Vongo-chan comes down to the ground and picks up the darts around the wolf that died instantly.

That’s the sixth wolf and we’ve accomplished our goal for the day.

Let’s go!

Let’s go back and hit the stalls!

-0-

「Oh, if it isn’t the slave party. I’m thankful for your help the other day with the flame spider.」

「Ah, old man Aguri. It is normal for adventurers to help each other out.」

On the way back to the city, we met a fellow adventurer, Aguri-san. He has a curved sword on his back.

Aguri-san pretends to be blunt but he’s a kind boarkin uncle.

Sometimes, he would ask us, “Are you guys being fed properly?” and then treats us to the meat dumpling food stall.

The day before yesterday, when we helped him escape from the flame spider that was chasing him from a rocky place, he bought us an expensive peach tart.

I was so happy because the confectionery store was a place where slaves couldn’t enter.

「However, your master is such a worrywart. If you can kill a flame spider, you’d probably make more money if you target a more powerful enemy above the herbivorous wolf.」

「……sa…..f…….」

「Saf? Ah, you mean safe? That’s true. It is undoubtedly better to stay safe since the money you earned will be taken from you.」

Aguri-san seemed to make a complicated expression when he said that. After that, he said “See you later!” and went to his usual hunting ground.

Thanks for worrying about us but I’m very happy right now.

-0-

「Oh, you came back hungry again today.」

Seeing us, Teshin-san, the owner of the skewer stall, put down the newspaper he was reading and put some meat on the brazier.

The amount of meat at this stall is average but it has more salt and a more distinct flavor than the others.

The meat skewers here are the best after a hunt.

Master gave us some salt candy which is so good that I’ve been saving it as a snack.

「How was your day?」

「Same as usual. Six wolves and done. Safe and sound.」

「Business as usual is the best. Some people failed to do the usual and died.」

「We have it easy because master decides everything for us.」

「Well, the Schenkers are super-rich. In addition, your master never lets you do anything you dislike. You were bought by a good guy.」

「Sawadi-sama is a great man, he even made a spear thrower for me.」

Teshin-san laughed when he saw me failing the wooden spear thrower.

「He is famous for being crazy about plays, isn’t he?」

「Yes yes. His dream is to open his own theater in the future. His dream is big, although he’s still small.」

「He is the 3rd son of their family so maybe he has announced that to indirectly tell them that he’s not going to compete for the heir of the family position. Right….I heard that Sawadi-sama suddenly showed up at a fried potato stall in the back the other day and he’s being accompanied by a woman.」

「Ah, that’s right. I recommended it to him saying it was delicious.」

「It’s your fault….? I’m not sure how friendly your master is but, isn’t he a student of the Magic Academy? Compared to us, mages are kind of another species. The guy from the fried potato store closed shop the next day because he was too scared.」

「Ah, why does he need to do that? Did he do something wrong?」

「I had one of my legs cut off just for crossing in front of their carriage.」

「Uwaaa, that’s scary.」

「That’s why you should be careful of mages you don’t know.」

With these words, Teshin-san tapped his wooden prosthetic leg.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.

A dragoon in dark red Magic Academy uniform flew over the main street where many people were passing by, riding a golden dragon, a magical creature.

It happens all the time.

An elderly goatkin lady, who was nearby, crouched down and held her hands together as she faced the golden dragon.

This person is probably someone like me, someone who was saved by a mage.

The meat skewers that day were a little saltier than usual.